Early nutrition 'important for baby's long-term health'

24 Apr 2008

A study of 2,000 first-time mothers with healthy babies found that 85 to 90% of mums agreed that their babies' diet was a key contributing factor to their long-term health.

Research conducted by Surrey University across five European countries, including the UK, revealed that 95% of new mums believed that how their babies were fed was particularly important during the first year after birth.

Commenting on the findings presented at the International Symposium on Early Nutrition Programming held in Granada, Spain, lead researcher Dr Heather Gage commented: "The number of new mothers who thought that the way they fed their babies had long term health implications was quite high considering this is a new and developing area of science."

Previous research carried out at Great Ormond Street Hospital discovered that premature babies fed on a high protein diet developed a higher IQ as they grew older.

According to the research leader Dr Elizabeth Isaacs, the results showed that the structure of the human brain can be influenced by early nutrition.

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